Our views on the debt crisis and the downgrading of U.S. credit are essentially identical. One of us is a Republican, the other a Democrat, yet it’s clear to us both that bipartisanship is the only way to avoid the dangers that lie ahead. Here is our bipartisan view of what the Congress, in which we served collectively for 15 terms, and our president should do.

First, stop discrediting the messenger. We can debate the merits of Standard & Poor’s making judgments on the effectiveness and stability of our political system, but the vast majority of Americans agree with S&P’s assessment. More embarrassing is that these comments about our political system mirror those we used to make about Third World countries. The inescapable truth is that we need to deal with the criticisms or they will discredit our economy and further erode our standing in the world.

This requires two interrelated actions. The first is ensuring that the United States will not default on its obligations. The debt ceiling legislation prevented this from happening — a good thing. But even with the cuts, it only bought us some time. It would be a big mistake to cling to the myth that this agreement addressed the second problem — our long-term structural debt, fueled by entitlements and our current tax system.

Anyone who thinks otherwise need only read the S&P statement. Or compare the value of their stock portfolio today to one week ago. Only by addressing long-term structural problems will we make any impact on future budget projections.

Fortunately, there is no great mystery surrounding what needs to be done. We are also not starting from scratch. Simpson-Bowles, in particular, is a solid framework to begin with, because it has bipartisan support and was crafted by people who have a deep understanding of government and the private sector.

The Domenici-Rivlin panel and the Gang of Six plan are also significant because they, too, embrace entitlement reform and simplification of the tax code.

President Barack Obama and Congress need to plot a new course as soon as possible that embraces the fundamentals in these plans. The White House would do well to request Congress to reconsider Simpson-Bowles or an amalgam of Simpson-Bowles plus these other proposals, on a parallel track to the Budget Commission.

With regard to economic growth, there are bipartisan proposals that need strong backing from the president and congressional leaders to get them across the finish line. Streamlining our Tax Code, now more than 71,000 pages long, should be the centerpiece of any pro-growth strategy, because its effects will be felt from Main Street to Wall Street. Removing tax loopholes (a Democratic priority) while lowering rates across the board (a Republican priority) will grease the wheels of the economy and bring revenue back closer to the historical average.

It would also demonstrate to the American people — and the world — that we are still capable of working together in a bipartisan way to solve big problems. We cannot afford to underestimate how much the perception of our union matters when it comes to the stability of global markets.

We should give serious consideration to creating a National Infrastructure Bank. America’s crumbling infrastructure has been widely documented. Dedicating resources to fix this now will likely create hundreds of thousands of jobs, save money in the long run and keep people and commerce moving. While the funding mechanism and distribution models may be high hurdles to overcome, this idea has been advanced by both parties. As Jack Kemp repeatedly pointed out, capital investment dollars are not welfare checks — and the federal government would be smart to provide them.

Congress also needs to return to the days when it passed a budget and individual appropriations bills each year. This process is one of the most important “checks” Congress has on itself. Reliance on trillion-dollar omnibus bills has contributed to the dramatic increase in the debt.

The president addressed many of these issues when he spoke Monday. But we are disappointed in his continued reluctance to offer or endorse specific proposals. The blame game in Congress is also a huge part of the problem.

There is a bipartisan way forward. The American public should demand it.

Vin Weber, a former six-term Republican congressman from Minnesota, is now the managing partner at Clark & Weinstock. Jane Harman, a former nine-term Democratic congresswoman from California, is now the president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. They are both on the board of the Aspen Institute.